Amongst the Rubble
by quinnovative
Summary: Tag to 3x09. Supergirl is taken from the scene, unconscious. Maggie hears about it over the police radio and she knows she should call Alex, knows she shouldn't. Alex needs Maggie, wants to call, but won't. They find each other anyway.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Big thanks to Winnie ( NoonansBartista) for the incredible prompt. I hope I did it justice! This is a one shot that will maybe turn into more... maybe.

* * *

Maggie heard about it over the police comms. A voice crackled through the line, a person she didn't know was talking about a person she did know, a person she knew, so well.

"Supergirl down, quickly losing ground in a fight. Feds are spotted en route to the scene. Patrol units needed for crowd control and traffic management."

Maggie's hand tightened around the steering wheel of her car, parked in the dark alley downtown at the scene of her most recent case—where she was supposed to be, not with Supergirl who was Kara, not with the Feds who weren't Feds, the Feds who were Alex, dressed in tactical gear and yielding weaponry Maggie could only dream of.

Not with Alex, her Danvers, whose watery wide eyes were etched in Maggie's mind, whose shaking worried voice was echoing in her ear like it always did when Kara got hurt.

"Holy shit, Supergirl's really looking bad," a rookie came over on a different line and Maggie's hand jutted forward, slamming off the police radio.

Once the car was swathed in silence she dug her phone out of her pocket, tore through her text conversations until Alex's contact photo was beaming up at her. Maggie's thumb lurched forward to open the conversation, then hovered.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Two opposite magnetic forces attracted and repelled her simultaneously. The space between her thumb and the screen decreased then expanded.

A knock thumped twice against the car window and she swiped the page away, dropping her thumb and turning off her cell.

She stared at the blackened screen, running her hand over it when another knock drew her gaze up to the window. The reflection of her partner stared back at her and he raised his hands up, inquiring what'd been taking her so long to get out.

"All right, all right, Fisher," she called, tugging on her windbreaker. "I'm getting out in a second, back off."

She tossed a glare out of the tinted window and Fisher only grinned. Grabbing her flashlight and pocketing her phone, Maggie got out of the car, shivering in the night air.

/

Alex slammed the van door closed behind her, sprinted in the front of the pack of DEO agents. Kara was falling, backlit by moonlight and the golden glow of the city skyline. Kara was falling and people were screaming and then people were hushed and Alex's heart thundered a staccato beat and Kara was closer to the ground and Alex darted around a crowd, feet shuffling and scraping concrete, and Alex wasn't quick enough. Wasn't strong enough or smart enough to stop it.

" _Supergirl!"_ The guttural cry was ripped from her throat and swallowed by the boom of Kara crashing, colliding, cracking into the street and the earth yielded, just slightly, just marginally—not enough, not enough, never enough—to the force.

Alex's legs were numb with the speed of her movement and she knelt on shaking limbs, amongst the rubble and dust and ash. Smoke and tears choked her throat. "Supergirl," she murmured, stretched out a hand to the limp frame and this time her voice was drowned out by sirens and gasps before a shrieking silence tore breath away from DEO agents and civilians.

Then, on legs she couldn't feel and a heart she felt too much, Alex stood and shattered the silence. "Get back! I need everyone to get back! We need to make room, she needs help."

The DEO med van parted the crowd and the stars were too bright and the air too crisp as Kara's body was lifted and her limbs flopped and she was breathless. Supergirl was wheeled into the vehicle, Alex's hands guiding the stretcher, gripping the metal. Medics swarmed around the body as the car jolted into motion, applied the oxygen mask, an IV, took vitals.

Then, there was stillness, then there was waiting. Alex brushed back Kara's hair, ran a hand down her shoulder, placed warm palms on Supergirl's stomach at her sides, pulled them away slowly, brought the shaking hands level with her face. Brows knit together; her hands were saturated in blood.

She lowered them, eyes now trained on Kara. As she squinted at the bleed, Alex's grip sought out her ring finger, moved to feel the metal there. But only flesh drenched in crimson was beneath her quivering touch because Maggie was gone and now Kara was going.

Latex gloves were shoved toward Alex, she snapped them on and covered the mess and someone was saying her name.

Alex blinked and looked at their coordinates on the screen. "We're almost at the DEO, let's prep to move her again."

/

"Supergirl may be deceased," the static words carried over the radio, Maggie's fingers froze on the volume dial as she slumped back into the driver's seat.

The door was still open, a chilled wind funneled down the alley and swirled through the car. Maggie shivered but she didn't move, Maggie's lungs stuttered but she couldn't breathe.

"Feds took her away, unconscious and bleeding badly."

Maggie's hair bunched against her seat as she tilted the back of her head into it, pushing and squeezing her eyes shut. She tightened her hands into fists.

"No more units are required."

Maggie's fingers pattered against her thigh. She wrenched the door closed and shoved her keys into the ignition, tires squealing against the pavement and dust rising as she pulled away from the curb and merged into the street.

The lanes were deserted, the road spanning long before her headlights. Her foot pressed hard and heavy on the gas and she willed the car faster through green light after green light before screeching to a stop.

She parallel parked in the street outside the DEO and then, she waited.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and let her head fall against the seat as she turned toward the building, watched silhouettes cross through its hundred windows, watched agents mill outside, watched cars roll up the ramp of the parking garage and check into work. She watched as cars meandered out, went home to families and warm apartments.

She watched and she waited and she pictured Alex and Kara inside and she wished she were there. Wished she could be there, kissing Alex's forehead and wiping away her tears and whispering away her fears and holding her so, so close. And she wished she could be there, holding Kara's hand and telling her gently, firmly, wholly to hang on, hang on, hang on. To fight.

Because Alex and Little Danvers weren't hers anymore but they were still her family, even from afar.

Maggie's fingers roamed upward, twisted around the collar of her shirt and her thumb frayed at the fabric. She closed her eyes and Alex was there. Alex was there, just a few meters away, a few floors above her. Alex was there, trying to save a life, trying to save her sister's life and Maggie just needed to be there, too.

Maggie needed to be there so that Alex could save her own life. So that there would be someone to hold Alex, to help her stay standing so she didn't have to bear the weight of this alone.

Maggie pulled her phone from the center counsel and opened up the messages page. Alex's name reflected in Maggie's brown eyes and the light from the screen spilled out into the dark car. Their last exchange was time-stamped three weeks ago and the curt responses sent Maggie's gaze back toward the building before she threw the phone into the passenger seat. It bounced off the cushion and clattered to the ground, opening Alex's contact page and Alex's smile was so bright in her picture.

Kara was dying and Alex was alone.

Here, in the street across from the DEO, Maggie was both too far and too close.

Frustration rattled up from her core and she slammed her palms against the steering wheel, again and again and again until her hands were tingling and a sob was in her throat and a whimper of a scream mauled its way out.

Then she took her car out of park and pulled back into the night.

/

"Alex, you need to step out," J'onn walked into the room where the medics had been working for the past three hours. "Everyone else has switched with the night shift, you need a break. You've been going since six this morning."

Alex shook her head. "I'm not going to take a break, Kara is dying, J'onn. She's—she's unconscious and… and her vitals are all over the place and she's… she's got some really, some really bad internal bleeding." Alex's eyes darted from Kara on the bed, past J'onn to the door behind him where she saw James and Winn lingering in the hallway, to the floor and back to her sister then down at her boots where the smear of soot and blood was hidden by the dark color.

She stumbled forward, losing traction on the bottom of her soiled shoe. J'onn reached forward, steadied her with a hand on her shoulder and Alex jerked away.

"Alex, you need to rest, you need to clean yourself up."

The medical staff in the room kept their heads down, focused on treating the wounds they could, trying to delay the impending inevitability of surgery.

"Agent Danvers, I'm ordering you to leave this room. Let people with more objectivity handle this. There's no way you're in the right headspace to do this."

She raised her eyes, locking onto his and clearing her own of the torture ravaging her head. "I'm fine and I'm not leaving."

"Agent Danvers—"

"You and I both know that Kara is going to need surgery. Soon." Alex wiped her sleeve at the sweat on her hairline, then curled her fingers behind her back to hide their shaking. "I know more about her physiology than anyone else here. I need to help prep her, so I need you to leave me alone so that I can focus because I need to do this. Kara needs me to do this for her."

"Alex, you're not—"

She shook her head, took one breath to stop the room from spinning; another to suppress the simmering nausea that'd been sloshing in her stomach since Kara's crashed into the street; took a last one, to steady her words and her hands. "I'm doing this. I'm okay. I'm clearheaded and I'm helping."

"Fine," he conceded with a sigh. "But you're not going into surgery with her. Let the specialists handle that."

Alex nodded and turned away and she found her fingers drifting back, looking for that ring on her left hand. She found her heart racing for Kara and aching for Maggie to be close, to come back. She shut her eyes for a moment, found Maggie's voice in her head and sought out its words—its warmth and strength—oh god, she really just needed to hear her voice or smell her shampoo or feel her touch. She opened her eyes and let her gaze flit toward her phone, discarded on a table by the door.

"Danvers."

She paused.

"We're running low on time, we need to finish now if we want to get control of this bleed."

Alex turned back to the med team.

/

An hour.

She lasted an hour.

After shoving away a bottle of scotch and putting the untouched cup back in the cabinet, Maggie laid in bed for an hour. She stared up at the ceiling until dampened colors spotted in her vision and her eyes burned. She blinked and she saw Kara, bloodied and bruised. She blinked and she saw Alex, all brave-faced and burying things so that her hands shook in her pockets and her heart was bursting in her chest.

She'd seen the news reports. She'd seen Kara, seen Alex; seen all the hurt and anxiousness.

She lasted an hour in her bedroom before she turned over and snatched her phone from the nightstand. With a quick swipe, she got off Alex's contact page and looked at the row of messages, most conversations old and unused now.

She clicked on James' name and sucked in a quivering breath. Her gaze was bleary but her fingers were precise as they ran across the letters.

 **Maggie Sawyer**

 **2:08 : How is she?**

 **2:09 : both of them… Danvers and Kara?**

And Maggie couldn't close her eyes, couldn't stop looking at the screen. A typing box appeared in the bottom left corner and a second later Maggie's phone vibrated in her fingers.

 **James**

 **2:11 : Both in bad shape**

 **2:11 : She really needs you right now**

Maggie tossed off the sheets and pulled her jeans from the floor where she'd discarded them just an hour earlier, changed and threw a few things into a bag and grabbed her keys.

 **Maggie Sawyer**

 **2:13 : I'm on my way**

/

Alex watched as they wheeled Kara out of the prep room, followed behind as they took her into the OR and stood, outside, as the doors swung shut and the hall was empty and the air silent. Florescent lights bounced off the white walls and burned Alex's eyes as she squinted and her head reeled.

She twisted her fingers together, tried to get a glimpse into the room from the little window on the door. All she could see were lab coats, the backs of doctors who were trained for this, who were more equipped to handle surgery than she.

Alex couldn't see Kara though, not when she pressed on wobbly toes and especially not when the threat of tears blurred her vision.

A slimy feeling curdled in her stomach.

She couldn't see Kara's face or her hands—her hands that always ran hot, warmed up Alex's on freezing snowy days; the hands that overflowed with potstickers and grasped mugs of coco; hands that painted and squeezed Alex's shoulder when they hugged.

Alex couldn't even see Kara's vitals or the IV or the breathing tube or the monitors.

Alex turned away from the OR, walked down to the west wing doors, then to the doors on the east wing. Then back. Then one more time. Then again.

She bit her lip.

"Oh god," she whispered, tapping her fingers against her thighs as she paced. "Oh god, oh god, oh god."

Her weak and shaking legs moved faster, up and down the length of the corridor. The sound of her footsteps echoed, was joined by the increasing heaviness of her breathing, clashed with ringing in her ear and the rush of blood and her heart thundering.

"Please no," she whimpered and tried to hold her breath to stop the hyperventilating that burst forward.

Her lungs screamed. She needed something. She needed someone.

"No, no, no, no, no."

She murmured again and again and sunk to the floor with her fingers trailing in front, balanced on the balls of her feet and tilting forward.

" _Kara,"_ she cried, grasping against the wall. " _Maggie."_

She needed to hear her voice.

Alex wrestled her phone from her pocket, pulled up Maggie's name and pressed 'call.' It took a moment to find connection and Alex's fingers jerked again, hanging up as she let her head fall forward, hitting the wall.

/

Maggie tapped her foot in the elevator. She'd gotten here on James' directions, a left turn and then a right one and then the west elevator up to the fifth floor and a switch to the second elevator where she stood now, twisting her fingers around the strap of her bag and coaching her breathing.

The doors parted with a ding and Maggie darted out. Just a single turn remained, one to the left, then a long stretch of corridor and a set of double doors.

Her shoes squeaked as she quickened her pace.

/

Alex brought a hand up to her chest and another pressing hard against her forehead, still covered in the same stupid blue latex gloves from hours before. Her phone clattered against the tile.

A short breath rattled out of her lungs and another and another. Too fast, too fast, too fast; when she'd been too slow, too slow, too slow for Kara.

She squeezed her eyes shut and white spots sparked in the darkness, from dizziness or lack of breath, or pressure.

She whimpered and dropped her head and the double doors eased open.

In the long, lone hallway, Alex's cowering frame stood out in black against the fluorescent bulbs and white walls.

Soft, light footsteps shuffled for a moment, grew faster, grew closer.

The footsteps stopped.

Maggie's hands hovered, near Alex's hair, near her back and her shoulders. Around this body, this beautiful, broken, familiar figure, her hands felt foreign. A lump formed in Maggie's throat and only Alex's breathing filled the air of the large hallway.

Maggie's own shaking inhale joined Alex's.

The agent raised her head, blinked, and launched herself upward, slipping and shaking, from her crouched position and into Maggie's arms.

And then her hands knew where to go—knew too much, almost, in a struggle to decide where to touch first—as she rubbed Alex' back, smoothed her hair, caressed her arm, squeezed the shoulders she knew were aching with tension and guilt and self-deprecation.

"Oh, _Alex."_ Her name was a revered whisper, an inevitability.

Alex twisted her hold loosely around Maggie's neck. With their bodies pressed together a gasp for air sputtered out of Alex's lung and she inhaled—breath jagged and all wrong; but all right. All right, warm in the crook of Maggie's neck.

"Oh, Al. All right, okay. Let's get ahold of this breathing, together, okay?" Maggie asked, pulling back from Alex just slightly, and cupping her face. Beneath Maggie's touch, Alex's posture sagged and the gaze that'd been shooting around the hallway locked onto Maggie's face.

"Nice and easy."

Alex whimpered and dropped her gaze as her slowing breath hitched again.

"Oh hey, hey, I know it's hard, I know." Maggie tapped Alex's chin gently with two fingers. "But I believe in you."

The detective gave a soft smile, smoothed back Alex's hair and the agent closed her eyes. "Follow my breathing, we'll do it together… There we go, you're getting there."

"All right, you're good, you're okay," Maggie whispered, rubbing Alex's back as she stood, looking distantly down the empty hall.

It was like talking past her when Maggie spoke. "Hey, Alex, how about we get you cleaned up? I bet you'll feel a little better."

Alex didn't respond, but she didn't resist either as Maggie put an arm around her shoulder, took some weight off Alex's legs as she guided them down the hall. Alex's gaze lingered on the OR behind them, kept flickering back until Maggie took Alex out through the double doors.

She leaned closer into Maggie's touch, shrinking as the halls grew busier, as agents averted their gaze as they passed. Alex's ribcage fluttered under the arm Maggie had wrapped around her back. Maggie blinked hard, burying her own tears at the battered and broken state of Alex—of Alex, who wasn't her fiancée anymore but didn't feel like her ex either, not now when they were fitted together.

It was just Alex: her something, her someone, her somebody.

Her everything.

"All right, come on. Here we go," Maggie said as they entered the locker room and Maggie breathed out a sigh of relief at finding it empty.

"Get started on washing your hands, I'll grab us a few things."

Alex stumbled toward one of the sinks, elbows locking as she leaned heavily on the porcelain, shoulders raised tightly. Maggie ran a hand over Alex's shoulder blade, turned away to grab some towels from the other side of the room where the showers were located.

Alex looked down. Dried riverets of crimson ran from beneath the latex gloves. Alex furrowed her brows, felt nausea surge as images of her hands soaked in Kara's blood pressed up against her memory.

A suctioned sound of resistance filled the silence as Alex peeled off the gloves and coagulated clumps of blood came with them, deep red etched out the lines of her palm and the dried liquid painted her skin, gathered under her nails.

The gloves dropped into the trashcan and when Maggie turned back around, Alex was leaned over it. A strangled choking noise and whimper passed Alex's lips and before Maggie could get to her, Alex was heaving, losing the long battle against her stomach as bile burned up her throat and she vomited.

"Shit," Maggie whispered, dropping the towels on a bench and rushing to Alex's side. "It's okay, you're okay, Al." Maggie rubbed Alex's shuddering back as she hunched further over, gagging and spitting. "You're okay, you're okay. Just let it out."

Alex threw up one more time before she raised her head, gripping the edge of the trashcan.

"Think you're done?" Maggie asked, keeping one hand on Alex's back as she fished through her bag with the other, producing a water bottle. She broke the seal and pressed it into Alex's shaky hands. "Here, swish and spit."

Alex's fingers curled around the bottle and stayed still. Maggie's gaze lifted from Alex's hands up to her lips to see them murmuring. "Sorry, I'm sorry." Her lips were moving but no sound was coming out and her eyes were watery and red-rimmed.

Maggie shook her head and the water bottle sloshed in Alex's hand as Maggie pulled Alex into a hug. "There's no need to be sorry, okay? _I'm_ sorry. I'm sorry for all of this."

Her closeness, her steadiness and warmth, relaxed Alex's muscles, soothed the queasiness in her stomach, and silenced the residual roaring of sirens and screaming in her ear.

Maggie felt Alex shaking her head against her shoulder, held her for a moment as Alex nestled close.

"Here, sit down, babe," Maggie said without thinking, without feeling anything but worry and desperation for Alex, for making her feel better. She moved to the double benches with Alex still pressed against her, eased the trembling brunette down until she was sitting.

"Can I um… Is it—is it okay if I clean you up?"

Alex nodded, eyes flitting toward the door, toward the direction of the OR housing Kara. A ghost of a murmur on Alex's lips had them trembling in voiceless quiver of "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Maggie's heart clenched in her chest and she squeezed Alex's hand, still bloody. She ran a hand over Alex's hair, stilled mused with sweat and soot. She waited until the tap water was hot, soaked the end of a towel in it over and over as she started with Alex's face, wiped across her cheeks bones, her nose, and her aching forehead. She went again and again until Alex's skin was soft and tinted pink with flushness and warmth.

Alex's eyes searched out Maggie's then flitted away each time the detective raised her gaze to meet them.

The towel was darkened and Maggie switched to another, had to scrub at Alex's palms and under her nails to erase the red there. The white fabric was dyed pink when Maggie pulled away, saw Alex looking in the direction of the showers.

"Want to shower real quick?"

Alex gave a small nod.

Maggie smiled at her and checked the water, made sure it was warm enough before walking Alex over to the stall. "I'll be right out here, okay?" she said softly as Alex slipped behind the curtain. "I'm just going to clean up and grab you some clean clothes, I'll slip them onto the little bench in here, so call me if you need anything… You can, um, you can talk to me, you know." She swallowed and tucked hair behind her ear, staring at the closed door. "When you—when you, feel ready of course. There's no rush. I'll just… I'll just be out here, a call away."

Maggie's words hung in the air and Alex's clothes gave a soft thump as they dropped to the floor and the pattern of water splattering the shower tiles changed as Alex slipped into the heat.

Maggie moved the dirty towels away and wiped up spilled water. She pulled the clothes out of her canvas bag and refolded them, stacking the layers into a neat pile before laying it behind the curtain and slipping out, sitting back on the long bench and dropping her head into her hands, a headache throbbing behind her eyes.

Alex was… a mess, and Kara… Maggie hadn't even seen her yet. Her phone vibrated against the bench and Maggie's posture shot up, heart racing at the sudden noise. Water splashed as Alex flinched in the shower.

Maggie looked down to see a pair of texts, one from James and one from Winn, asking if Maggie had reached Alex, asking if she knew where she was.

As she was typing a reply, James flung open the door to the locker room. Maggie spun around, shushing them as she rushed over, urged them back across the threshold.

" _What?_ " she whispered, splitting her glare between James and Winn beside him.

"Hey, easy Maggie. We were just looking for Alex. We got worried when she wasn't in the hallway anymore and we hadn't heard from either of you."

"She's with me, just getting cleaned up in the shower. She's-" Maggie glanced over her shoulder and stepped out of the locker room, keeping the door slightly ajar with her hand. "Listen, I'm—I'm trying, okay?" Her chest was hot and her cheeks burned as her breath hitched. "I'm doing every—everything I can. She just… she isn't talking and she's having trouble focusing and I'm just… I'm just trying to be there for her but I—" she raised her shoulders and shrugged, swiped at the tears that spilled over. "I don't _know,"_ she sighed, high and breathless, planting her gaze on the scuffed toe of her boot.

Then James wrapped her up in a hug, arms engulfing her entire frame as Winn patted her back, a little awkwardly and a lot more comfortingly than she would have expected.

"Sorry," she murmured, with a watery excuse of a laugh as she pushed away the last of her tears with shaking fingertips. "Thanks," she said to Winn, shooting him a small smile.

James pulled back. "She kept looking at her phone, kept reaching for her ring finger… she needed you then when Kara got hurt and she needs you now while we wait, Maggie. She needs _you,_ okay? None of us could get her to do anything. We took turns, trying for hours to get her to rest, to slow down or eat something or clean up, but she didn't budge until you got here. You showing up is probably the best thing that could have happened to her right now, second only to Kara miraculously healing."

Maggie swallowed, rubbed at the second wave of tears dripping forward. She sniffled. "You really think so?"

"Definitely, Sawyer."

"Me too," Winn nodded.

"Just keep doing what you're doing. We're both going to head home, but J'onn's staying if you need anything. And Maggie?" James continued as he pulled the door open the door and Maggie turned to go in with a soft thanks. She paused and looked back at him. "We're all glad that you're here."

Maggie gave a soft smile as she stepped inside. "Me too."

Her lone footsteps pattered against the ground and she dropped back onto the bench, fidgeting with the hem of her sweater.

Her brows furrowed a moment later at a loud, rattling sigh and rasping fragment of a voice.

She straightened up, head tilting toward the shower.

Alex coughed and her voice barely reached over the sound of water. "Maggie?"

"Yeah, hey," Maggie said softly and stood up, relief swelling inside her as hope tingled in her limbs. "I'm here."

"Okay. Okay good." The water cut off.

A moment passed and Alex stepped out, tugging the worn crewneck sweater over her head. There was still a sliver of shiny conditioner in her hair, still a spot of soapy bubbles around her left ankle. She toweled off her hair quickly, features falling.

"You're here," Alex murmured, fingers twisting in front of her, body tight with hesitation.

"Of course I'm here," Maggie whispered, voice breaking and tears brimming. "I'm always going to look out for my Danvers girls. I should have gotten here sooner, I'm sorry."

Alex shook her head and water droplets splattered onto the tile floor. " 'S okay. I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

A sob crushed Alex's ribs and she brought a hand upward to cover her mouth, shoulders slumping as she hung her head.

Maggie's arms enveloped Alex's bent, trembling frame and Alex melted into the touch.

"Kara… She's really banged up and she's b-bleeding a lot. It's not good… it's not good at all… she…" Alex groaned and pressed her face against Maggie's collarbone, squeezed her hands into fists and opened them as Maggie stroked her back, slow and steady.

"She's in surgery, she could… she—Kara's not good she could die, _Maggie,_ I wasn't…" Alex hiccupped and tightened a fist around the back of Maggie's sweater. "I wasn't enough, I couldn't save her."

"You don't know that Alex." Maggie's breath was warm on Alex's hair as she tucked her chin down by the agent's ear. "You did everything you could. You always do."

Alex sobbed and Maggie's hands were waiting, cupping her cheeks and catching her tears.

Maggie let her own cries fall silently into Alex's already damp hair.

"What am I… What am I gonna do? What happens next?" Alex asked, chest rising and falling against Maggie's as their deep breaths synced, tearss slowing.

Exhaustion permeated their frames, sent them slumping deeper into the embrace, clinging to soft fabric and warm skin.

"We wait," Maggie whispered and Alex pulled away, looking at her with glistening eyes.

The hopeful lilt in Alex's voice sent Maggie crumbling. "We? Together?"

Maggie slid her hand into Alex's, felt her pulse beating softly.

"Together."


	2. Chapter 2

Alex squirmed in her sleep, cheek rubbing against Maggie's shoulder as she readjusted herself in the waiting room chair, twisting as her blanket slipped off. Maggie eased the fabric back in place and Alex nestled into her side, murmuring incoherently.

Outside the first hint of sunlight was flickering on the horizon, but inside, the presence of fluorescent bulbs was unchanging and intrusive. Maggie bit her lip and sniffled as Alex settled, on her way to deep sleep again. The hand on Alex's back stilled and Maggie squeezed her close instead.

Inside, tension was still high and Kara's condition still a mystery. The detective dropped her head as tears sprung forward and darkened Alex's hair as she hugged the sleeping woman.

She had Alex in her arms now and it was almost enough to let her pretend everything was normal. Except sometimes Maggie froze with her touches and words. Sometimes she couldn't look at Alex without feeling everything she'd lost, without hearing their goodbye echo painfully in her ear.

Every time her eyes were assaulted by the harsh lights or her hearing invaded by rushed footsteps down the hall, she thought of Kara. She thought of Kara, alone in the sea of surgeons, bleeding when everyone always said she was invincible, but she wasn't, she wasn't, she wasn't.

Maggie spun her phone between her fingers, then paused and opened the notifications she had set up for Supergirl whenever she made the news. The first article was all speculation, but Maggie scrolled to the bottom, to the pictures that were emerging. The third image was a close up, showed the purple bruises on Kara's face in sharp pixels, showed the reflection of streetlights glistening in the torrent of blood down Kara's temple.

Maggie swallowed the lump in her throat and the rising nausea, rushing to close the page. She opened her messages again to eat away at time as she scrolled through her last texts with Kara—just short conversations after the break-up, always initiated by the blonde, always checking on Maggie, making sure she was okay until the texts faded weeks ago.

There was so much Maggie should have said to her, before the break-up and after it. Because her start with the youngest Danvers may have been rocky, but the middle hadn't been and neither had the ending, not really. Not when Kara had only ever been trying her hardest, for Alex, for Maggie, for her dead planet and the fate of her new one. So Maggie poured fragmented phrases and fractured feelings into the draft of a message to Little Danvers.

But all Maggie could feel was Alex, broken in her arms, and all she could see was Kara, broken in the street. It tore her words away and dissolved her composure.

A sob begged to break forward, stormed in her chest and Maggie buried her face in Alex's hair as silent, violent cries vibrated in her ribcage. The stillness of the room buzzed in response and Maggie deleted the text, wiping at her cheeks in the empty waiting area.

It was stupid, stupid, stupid.

She closed her eyes and counted the seconds between her breaths, but still, her lungs quivered and her eyes burned and she couldn't suppress the whimper that rattled out. She jammed a knuckle between her teeth and bit hard, muffled her cries.

Alex squirmed again, eyes fluttering open, then dropping halfway in the light.

"Maggie?" she murmured, voice raspy as her eyes closed again and her head lolled onto Maggie's shoulder.

"Hey," Maggie whispered, smoothing Alex's hair.

"Where'd you get this?" Alex tugged the blanket closer. " 's so soft."

Maggie smiled, diverting the path of tears down her cheeks. She wiped her eyes. "I brought it with me."

"Oh," Alex hummed. "Oh!" Her eyes blinked open heavily a she squinted up at Maggie. "Mags, you 'ere cryin'?"

She shook her head. "No, no I'm fine."

Alex blinked, struggling against sleep as she studied Maggie's face for a moment before letting her rigid frame fall limp against the detective, encircling her in a loose hug.

"Go back to sleep, Danvers," Maggie whispered, running her fingers through Alex's hair. "You've barely been out for two hours, you still need rest."

Alex mumbled, nestling into her embrace around Maggie, arms flaccid and breath warm against the detective's chest. Alex's fingers curled in Maggie's hair, her lips just above Maggie's collarbone.

"Love you."

Maggie gasped, cracked down the middle, froze. "Oh Alex." She kissed Alex's hair in the same place her tears had fallen. There was no confusion about the words she'd breathe back. "I love you, too."

/

Lena's eyes shot open for the sixth time since she'd climbed into bed five hours ago with alcohol coursing through her system—alcohol she'd tried to use to erase the image of Supergirl crashing into the street, to calm her nervousness when Kara didn't answer Lena's string of texts, when each call went to voicemail again and again and again.

Through the blurriness of scotch, something that had long been gnawing at the back of Lena's mind crept forward from shadow into light as Lena flopped onto her stomach, a ragged sigh deflating her lungs.

She pressed her face into the pillow and squeezed the sheets. With a groan, she extended her arm from beneath the blankets, groping at her nightstand until she found her cell. The sheets pooled at her waist as she twisted and sat up. White light spilled into the darkness when she turned on her phone, pressed the heels of her palm against her eyes in a futile attempt to stave off the throbbing in her head.

Squinting in the brightness, Lena stared at the screen. "What the hell," she murmured, thumb swiping upward to dial Kara again in a motion driven by worry and scotch.

Lena's fingers pattered against her thigh as the dial tone ripped silence away from early morning air and Lena felt her heart speeding in her chest, the perpetual worry expanding as the ringing morphed into an answering machine with Kara's voice too cheery, too sweet for the tightening grip of anxiety.

Desperation panged in Lena's chest to be wrong about Kara, for something to dispute the mounting evidence that her best friend was Supergirl, that her best friend had crashed from the sky and bled when she was supposed to be bulletproof.

Lena pressed hard against her forehead, stomach uneasy and hands shaky. With a sigh, she tossed off the sheets and flicked on the lights.

She had work in two hours and breakfast scheduled with Kara in three, before her day really got started.

She changed from her pajamas into a black pencil skirt and white, silky blouse. The normalcy was eerie under the weight of her impending revelation and its concomitant worry.

With coffee brewing, Lena opened the messages on her phone and bypassed Kara, this time she shot off a text to a different contact: Alex Danvers.

/

Beneath the warm presence of Maggie's hand, Alex writhed, sleepless in her exhausted state. Unconsciously, Maggie moved to sooth her, running a thumb back and forth over Alex's shoulder blade.

The taller woman turned into the touch, stilling for a moment before she bolted upward.

"Oh shit!" Alex sat up, raising her head from Maggie's lap, one hand falling on the detective's thigh as Alex moved, propped herself up.

"Whoa, hey." Maggie's eyes opened, and she rubbed them with loose fists before dropping her hand to rub Alex's back. "What's up? What's going on?"

Alex groaned, scrambling upward and tipping forward. "I gotta—I gotta call my mom. She needs to know about Kara. I forgot, ugh I completely forgot and now it's been hours and she didn't know and—" Alex patted her pants, eyes darting around until she froze, found the phone inside her sweater and yanked it out. "Damn it, _shit_ my phone is dead."

Alex looked up, eyes wide and heart racing as she shook out her hands and bounced her leg.

"Okay, hey," Maggie said. Her slow and steady voice juxtaposed Alex's hysterics. "Here," she pulled a charger from her bag. "No big deal."

Alex curled her fingers around the cord, looking down at it before raising her gaze to meet Maggie's. "Thanks. Sorry." Her cheeks burned pink.

"Don't be sorry," Maggie smiled softly, reached out to hug Alex but hesitated, suddenly aware of the distance that'd inched between them. In the bright lights, no longer under the easy blanket of exhaustion and necessity, she was increasingly unsure of where she stood and pulled back before Alex could notice. "Uh, the doctors said Kara's out of surgery but they're not letting visitors in yet."

Alex turned around, phone in her hand but forgotten now that the charger had been inserted. "How long ago?"

"About forty five minutes. I had to beg one of the other agents for information, I was out in the hallway I had to call my boss."

Alex tilted her head, looking up at Maggie from the agent's crouched position near an outlet.

"To um… to ask for a day, or a couple, off for an emergency." Maggie coughed and looked down, cheeks red. "A uh, a family emergency. I just thought you might want someone around, you know?" She swirled her hand in a circle, kept her gaze firmly on the white speckled tiles of the medical wing. "With everything going on and I don't know, maybe I was wrong to think you'd want me here. It was dumb, I should have asked you first, I just thought you should have someone looking out for you and I'm—I'm so worried about Kara, too, I know she's not my sister and I know it's been weeks since we've talked but I keep an eye out for her on the police comms, in the sky and…." Maggie rubbed her palms against her jeans. "I get it if you want me to leave, I totally would understand, just keep me updated on Kara, okay? Please? Just a text to tell me she's okay and um, you take care of yourself, Danvers. I didn't mean to intrude, I just needed to see you and I thought…" Maggie shook her head and turned toward the exit. "It was stupid, I'm sorry."

"Whoa wait, Maggie!" Alex stood up, let the phone drop from her hand. "Hey, slow down."

She intercepted the space between Maggie and the door. "I thought…" Alex's eyes raised to meet Maggie's, all watery and wide. "I thought we were in this together. You said we were doing this together."

"I just don't want to get in the way," Maggie said. "Or intrude, I mean you'll have your mom coming soon I'm sure, and J'onn's here, and James and Winn. You don't need me and I don't want to make this any harder for you, I don't want to make things worse."

"No hey, no not at all. Maggie?" Alex urged her chin up with gentle fingers and the detective was pliant beneath her touch. "Can I hug you?"

Maggie nodded, bottom lip quivering as Alex enveloped the woman in her arms. "Mags, I would not have made it through last night, if you hadn't shown up, okay? I couldn't do this without you. I _can't_ do this without you. You helped me so much."

A sob slithered from her lips on a gasp for breath. "Yeah?"

Alex's chin bobbed against Maggie's shoulder as she nodded. "Yeah. So don't go around here thinking I don't want you or don't need you, all right? I want to be here for you, too. Together."

Maggie nodded and squeezed Alex closer.

"I guess this is harder for both of us than I thought, huh?"

Maggie let out a watery laugh and sniffled. "Yeah."

Every beat of Alex's heart was a cry of I missed you, I missed you, I _miss_ you. She let her fingers curl loosely around Maggie's. "Hey and um also while we're talking, I just wanted to say, Maggie, that—"

Incessant vibrating from Alex's cell severed her sentence. She let go and knelt down to look at the phone where it was plugged into the outlet. Her face blanched, chest growing tight a she scrolled through the notifications.

"What is it?" Maggie asked, seeing Alex's features turn.

"Well J'onn told my mom about Kara, she's already on her way."

Maggie nodded. "Okay, and?"

Alex dropped her forehead into her hand. "I'm fairly certain that Lena knows exactly who Kara is."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, there's the second chapter a few of you requested :) ... you're also getting an eventual third part. Hope you liked it so far!


	3. Chapter 3

"So?" Maggie asked as Alex slipped back into the waiting room. "What did you tell her?"

Alex shrugged and let out a long sigh. "The truth."

"And? You were on the phone for a while. Did she take it okay?"

"She was pissed at first and then she yelled for a while, but after the first few minutes it just sounded like she was about to cry, Maggie" Alex whispered and fell back into the chair, pulling the blanket into her lap. "What was I supposed to do?" she asked, on the verge of tears herself. "She just kept asking if Kara was okay, that's all she really cared about and I know Kara wanted to tell Lena herself eventually, but _Maggie,_ Kara might not even wake up and Lena, she deserved to know, she's… she's been through a lot, too, and she's been a good friend so I…" Alex trailed off, shrugging again as her posture crumbled and she dropped her head into her hands, rubbing her eyes. "Oh God," she murmured to herself. "What am I doing?"

"Hey, you're doing the right thing. It sucks that Lena found out like this, but she needed to know. It was time." Maggie slid into the seat beside Alex, rubbed her back. "And it sounds like she basically had it figured out anyway, you just confirmed something she already knew."

Alex nodded. "Maybe. I, uh, I told her it would be all right if she came in to visit later so she's going to come by after work, sign the NDA, and see Kara. She wanted to come sooner but I told her we don't even know Kara's condition yet."

"I think that's a good idea. To let her come by, I mean."

"You do?" Alex perked up.

Maggie nodded and Alex smiled softly, resting her head on Maggie's shoulder. The tension was finally seeping out of Alex's shoulder when the door swung open.

A doctor walked in.

The air buzzed.

Alex's heart froze in her chest.

"We've got Supergirl stabilized in post-ops under the sunlamps. She's still unconscious, but you can visit her now."

Alex jumped out of the seat, blanket falling to floor and legs threatening to go too as she wobbled for a moment. She nodded and moved forward. Four strides and half as many questions later, Alex paused, noticing Maggie wasn't at her side.

Turning around, Alex saw that Maggie had stood but hadn't walked closer. The detective remained in place, twisting the hem of her sweater. "Do you, uh, do you want me to come with you? Or…"

Silently, Alex held out her hand behind her, reaching backward and entwining Maggie's fidgeting fingers with her own before leading them through the door, before leading them to Kara.

/

The call timer counted one, two, three, four seconds of terminus silence after Alex hung up and Lena stood, stuck in paralysis—eyes unblinking; muscles still save the heavy beating of her heart.

It took thirty more undocumented seconds to release the breath she'd been harboring and another twenty to straighten herself from her slumped posture against the office door.

She finally clicked off the phone and lowered it onto her desk, setting it atop a stack of finance reports she'd been meaning to get to at the end of the day.

Even with its screen an impervious black, Lena's gaze lingered on the phone, as a jumble of overlapping and contradictory emotions surged inside her.

Her chest burned with frustration and ached with worry and she had to squeeze her hands together to chase away their trembling.

During the phone call, once her voice had begun shaking under the threat of tears, Lena had gone quiet on answers that required more than a single word, because she couldn't trust her voice to maintain the façade that she was fine. She was fine. She was always, always fine.

With the call ending, the blur of rising tears had receded but the lump in her throat stayed prominent and painful, even in this moment now as she looked at the phone, then towards the finance reports that wouldn't get done tonight. Not with Kara unconscious in some secret government facility just miles away. Not with the weight of epiphany settling on her chest, gripping at her lungs.

Lena squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed at her temples before dropping her gaze to her cell again, wanting to call Kara even though it was useless, even though Kara's phone would just buzz and buzz and fall into voicemail.

A knock on the door drew Lena's attention upward as Jess stepped in.

"Miss Luthor?" she spoke softly. "Your ten o'clock is here. Are you ready?"

Lena nodded and turned away from her phone.

"I'll be right there."

/

Their footsteps formed a synchronized beat, echoing through the long and empty hall. As Alex continued asking questions about Kara's condition, Maggie focused on running her thumb over Alex' knuckles, on settling a steady hand over the woman's back, guiding her, reminding her to be careful, as their path grew crowded with medical staff and DEO agents and recovering patients.

Alex tugged Maggie closer to her side, hand subconsciously creeping up Maggie's arm until their bodies were pressed together and Maggie could feel Alex's pulse racing beneath her touch, could feel her palm growing clammy.

On instinct, both of Maggie's hands lurched upward to steady Alex's shoulders when she stumbled into a quick stop outside Kara's room. Alex's jaw went ridged, clenched as her flow of questions ceased and the doctor left them with a promise that Dr. Hamilton would be in later on the evening shift. The hallway was busy, but with Kara just feet away—with just a door between them—Alex was alone in her head.

Maggie could feel the hitching of Alex's breath, ribs jumping against Maggie's side and she could feel Alex's tension grow as her gaze went distant. The agent reached for the door then dropped her hand, each finger trembling.

She tightened them into a fist, pulled up to her lips and ducked her head.

"Hey," Maggie whispered, smooth and slow. Alex's shoulders dropped from their raised position. "Together," Maggie reminded and slipped her hand into Alex's, the taller woman's grip tightened around Maggie and with the other hand reached and opened the door.

The sheets swallowed Kara; the bandages were so abundant they concocted the impression that those strips of gauze and surgical tape were holding her together entirely; and she was so pale there was little distinction between her skin and the bed; and there were so many tubes and wires and machines crowded around so much and so close and—

"—She's gonna get claustrophobic." Alex turned to Maggie, fingers still linked and squeezing tighter now. "With all the… with all the everything in here. It's too much, it's too loud and too close. She doesn't like that. It's gonna—it's gonna scare her. It's too much, when she first got here all this would scare her and it—it still does sometimes. She's—

Maggie ran her free hand up and down Alex's arm, met those frantic, unfocused brown eyes with her own. "We'll talk to Dr. Hamilton later, or a nurse first if someone shows up. I'm sure they can at least organize things a little more so it won't be so overwhelming for Kara."

Alex squeezed her eyes shut, pulled in a long breath. "Right, okay. Sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"It was stupid. She's unconscious, she might not even…"

"Hey, it's okay. Don't go thinking like that."

Alex swallowed and sunk into the seat beside Kara's bed. "Is it okay if I just stay here with her for a while? If we… I mean, would you… would you stay with me?"

Maggie nodded and dropped into the seat beside Alex's. "Of course. I'll be right here with you, for as long as you want me."

"Thanks," Alex whispered thickly, swallowing tears.

She took Kara's hand into her own and, with the other, gripped Maggie's just a little tighter.

/

Maggie was pacing the halls three hours later while fielding a call from the precinct, and Alex had finally gotten the chance to pull up Kara's stats on her laptop when the door eased open.

Eliza peeked inside before entering and Alex's head jerked up at the noise.

"Mom!" She discarded the computer into the chair beside her and jumped up. "Hi. I'm-I'm so sorry. We all knew it was going to be a tough fight but we had no idea it was going to be so bad. It happened so fast and all I could do was just stand there and watch from the ground. I know I should have done something—I should have been there quicker or told her not to go or—"

"Shh, Alexandra." Eliza engulfed her daughter in a hug. "I know I've been unfair to you in the past about these sort of things, but I'm trying to be better."

Alex nodded but struggled to raise her eyes up to meet her mother's gaze.

"Sweetheart, this wasn't your fault."

Alex shrugged, tears brimming her eyes.

"How's Kara doing?" Eliza asked softly as she kept a hand on Alex's shoulder and glanced toward the bed.

Alex was halfway through relaying her sister's condition when the door opened and Maggie entered, eyes linking onto Alex's as she looked over Eliza's shoulder.

"You okay?" Maggie mouthed.

Alex nodded, whispering a silent "yeah." Maggie's gaze catching hers, just an arm's length away, spread something warm through Alex. Something that eased the remnants of anxiety, something that made her close her eyes and take a deep breath and let go of the tightness in her shoulders.

Before Eliza moved to check on her youngest daughter, or Maggie could slip away to give them privacy, the oldest Danvers woman turned toward the door, already expecting to see the detective.

"Maggie," she said softly and a gentle smile took over her features. "Despite the circumstances, it's good to see you."

"You too," Maggie said and already a sob was swimming in her chest because her family was all here even if they were broken, and maybe they weren't even hers anymore but they were the best thing she'd ever had; the closest she'd ever got.

Then Eliza took a step forward, pulled Maggie into a hug and whispered near her ear. "Thank you for being here for Alex, and for Kara, too. James and J'onn both told me about everything. It says a lot that you came and stayed with her."

"There isn't anywhere else I could have been while this was happening." Maggie murmured through the lump in her throat.

Eliza gave her a tight squeeze. "I know."

/

Eliza made her rounds through the labs, looking over the same data Alex had been examining when she'd arrived. The sun had sunk beneath the skyline when Eliza finished and collected her notes to discuss a few points with Alex later.

Alex had been instructed from J'onn to take a break from keeping Kara company, to go eat or change or take some time to herself, but when Eliza made it back to Kara's room both Alex and Maggie were still there, speaking softly in two plastic chairs pushed together next to Kara's bed.

Eliza knocked gently on the wall beside the door where it was cracked ajar.

"Oh, hey Mom," Alex said, posture straightening as she turned toward the door.

"I thought you two were supposed to be getting some space from here?" Eliza gave a small smile, setting her notes down on a table beside the door.

Alex's gaze trailed over to the papers and she leaned over to catch a look. "What's that?"

"Just some things I wanted to talk about with you regarding Kara's condition, but they're not pressing. They don't make a difference at the moment, we'll need time for the second round of testing to come through."

Alex nodded, running a hand through her hair. Her fingers were shaky against her paled skin, eyes droopy as a deep breath shuddered in and out of her lungs. Concern deepened across Maggie's face and she looked over Alex's head, up toward Eliza. The older woman shot her a soft smile, walking over to rub Alex's shoulder.

"Have you girls eaten anything today?"

Alex gave a non-comital murmur and leaned into her mother's touch before looking at Maggie.

"Coffee," they answered at the same time, laughing softly at the synchronization.

"Real food?" Eliza pressed.

"Apples in the breakroom."

Alex nodded in agreement. "It was just an hour or two ago, around one, I think."

"Alex, dear, what time do you think it is?"

The younger Danvers furrowed her brow, reached to check her phone before realizing it was on the other side of the room. "Um, I don't know, three?"

Eliza shook her head. "It's already six. Come on," she said gently and urged both women up. "Let's get some food into you two and then I think you both need to consider getting some rest tonight in an actual bed. I'll stay with Kara while you go get something."

Alex bit her lip, brows furrowing as her gaze was drawn back to Kara, but Maggie slid her hand into Alex's and squeezed. "It's a good idea, Danvers. You gotta take care of yourself," she whispered.

"I could say that to you, too."

"Then come on," Maggie said, tilting her head toward the door. "Let's hold each other accountable."

/

Maggie talked about work as they walked, knew Alex was content with just listening when she was stressed and nervous. Her smooth voice had soothed the anxiety roiling inside Alex as they entered the lobby of the DEO until a sharp, panicked yelling yanked at Alex's attention.

Stuck in the door of the visitor's entrance, frigid winter air blew through the opening as Lena stood there shaking.

Maybe it was because Alex's little sister was unconscious in a hospital bed, while Lena was here, in front of the agent, young, scared, in pain like Kara, but in a way that maybe Alex could help. Or maybe, it was because of the way Lena's voice shifted, suddenly, from level and all business to the plea of a twenty-four-year-old. Or maybe it was because Maggie's warmth at Alex's side made her want to radiate that same comfort to someone who needed it just as much.

Regardless of the reason, when Alex recognized the voice as Lena, she froze. Under a surge of protectiveness beating in her heart, she stepped forward, away from Maggie and the exit.

"Hey," Alex called, a little breathless from running over. "She's with me. The guards on morning shift were supposed to leave a note."

Lena looked up.

Before the man could respond, Alex focused her gaze on Lena.

"Come 'ere, Luthor," she said, voice warm and steady. "You're fine." She turned toward the guard. "She's fine."

Lena glanced between the guard and Alex, standing in the middle, twisting her fingers together. Alex reached out, gently stopped Lena's fidgeting.

"It's okay," Maggie said, coming up next to Alex. With an open arm the detective took Lena at her side.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about Kara this way," Maggie whispered against Lena's hair, guiding her away from the diminishing commotion and toward the hallway that would get them closer to Kara.

Lena nodded, looking straight ahead, body still tense and defensive. They turned left, waited for Alex to catch up before getting into an elevator.

"Is she okay?" Lena asked, voice steely and soft, as she kept her eyes trained ahead.

"Surgery went well, but um, she's still unconscious—doctors don't know how long it's going to be."

Lena nodded and the walk to Kara's room was deluged in silence.

Eliza was still gone when Alex pulled open the door.

"Go ahead," Alex said, letting Lena enter first.

Alex and Maggie hung back at the threshold and Lena took time, pulling off her coat and gloves even though her hands were still shaking, her cheeks still red from the cold.

She stood, oblivious to Maggie and Alex's watch, facing the wall with her coat in her hands, shivering, eyes closed for a moment as she took a deep breath.

She lingered in place, lips moving minutely, lowering her coat onto a table by the door and brushing her hands against the front of her pencil skirt. She straightened it once more, looking up to meet her reflection in the glass window of the recovery room.

She turned around, sucking in a sharp breath when she finally focused on Kara.

Lena crossed her arms, bit her lip as she stood at the foot of the bed.

"Lena,' Maggie said softly, and the CEO realized she hadn't registered anything about the conversation they'd been having at the door. "We can give you some space. You okay in here? Some nurses might pop in in a few minutes and Alex said someone will bring the NDA in a little bit. We'll only be gone for half an hour."

"Okay," Lena whispered, still looking at Kara.

Alex and Maggie hesitated in the doorway, sharing a look before Alex put a hand on Maggie's back, urging her toward the door. "Come on, let's go."

On the way out, they ran into Eliza and escaped a lecture about actually going and taking care of themselves, by explain the Lena situation and asking Eliza to come with them to pick up the take out, instead.

/

It took just over thirty minutes for them to return, and when Alex approached, eager to see Kara again, through the window she could make out Lena sitting in the chair Alex usually occupied, closest to Kara.

"You're the only one I have, Kara, so you have to wake up. You're the _only_ one. I—" The door opened, and Lena's head snapped in their direction, tears brimming in her eyes. The chair screeched against the tile as she stood.

"Hey, Lena, you don't have to go just 'cause we're here. It's okay."

" 's fine," Lena murmured, voice breaking as she brushed fingers across her cheeks at the tears spilling over. She ducked her head, sliding past Maggie, Alex, and Eliza where they stood in the doorway. "Just uh, just please text me when there's a change in her condition."

"Hey, Lena," Alex called after her. "Wait, come back. We should talk."

But she was already around the corner, leaving the trio standing in the threshold. They stayed in silence for a moment, looking down the hall and back toward Kara in the hospital bed.

Maggie broke the stillness, moving to unpack the takeout. She froze, hand in the bag around a white container. "It feels wrong to let her leave like that. I should go talk to her," Maggie said, turning toward the door.

"Hold on, sweetheart," Eliza said. "You girls really should eat something, take some time for yourselves. Let me go talk to her."

"Mom, no offense, but you don't even know her." Alex ran a hand through her hair. "And Lena's not… It's hard to get her to open up. I mean Maggie and I have known her for months now and there's still a lot of things that are difficult to talk about for her. Kara's the only one I think who's ever really gotten through and then all of this happened." Alex gestured to the hospital bed, to the beeping machines and wires.

"Let me try, okay?" Eliza said softly.

Alex bit her lip. "Okay."

Eliza nodded, had one foot out the door when Maggie's voice made her stop.

"Wait!"

Eliza turned around and a jacket was thrust into her hands.

"Lena forgot her coat and it's cold out there."

/

Lena dropped onto the steps of the DEO, pulling her knees up to her chest and dipping her head down onto them as short breaths tore through her lungs. The back of her fingers came up to press against her cheeks as frigid air stole their heat.

" _Shit,"_ she murmured, trying to steady her breathing and stop the tidal wave of tears that finally surged forward. "ah, shit, shit."

She felt her whole diaphragm lurch as she cried out, murmuring Kara's name.

Behind her, the door opened—another employee, Lena figured, going home to a cozy apartment and a family, to safety and warmth and honesty and all the things she'd been missing since she was four years old.

Except, nobody brushed past Lena in a rush to get back to all those wonderful things. Instead, someone sat beside her.

Lena looked over and Eliza smiled gently, holding up the jacket toward Lena. "May I?"

Biting her lip with tears spilling over her cheeks, Lena managed a nod and Eliza draped the coat over the younger girl's shoulders.

"Maggie wanted to make sure I brought it to you. It's cold out here."

"Yeah," Lena agreed, letting out a bitter laugh at the metaphor before swiping at the tears under her eyes. She blew out a long breath, coloring the air white with the chilliness of it all. "You could say that."

"I'm Alex and Kara's mom," Eliza said, holding out her hand for Lena to shake.

A laugh rattled from Lena's ribcage again, softer this time as she took Eliza's hand. "I know." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked down. "I'm Lena."

Eliza smiled. "I know who you are, too. Kara talks about you so often, I feel like we've met before."

Lena ran her fingers along the hem of her pencil skirt, goosebumps scattered across her bare legs as a gust of wind funneled down the sidewalk.

"Only good things, of course. Except I get the feeling from her that she thinks you're too hard on yourself, that you work too much."

Lena shook her head, stared off into the city. Behind the layers of skyscrapers twinkling in the night, she knew the ocean laid beyond them, where waves beat up against the seawall. She imagined it must be even colder there, with the wind whipping at her face. It must be quieter too, a tradeoff between sirens and honking for splashing and silence. "She thinks too highly of me."

Eliza took a deep breath and followed Lena's gaze into the distance. "I think I would disagree with that, between what all my girls have told me and what I've read. You're a phenomenal person, Lena."

The CEO's throat tightened, and she dropped her gaze toward her shoes. "But she didn't tell me about… she couldn't tell me she was…"

"Oh, Lena, trust me. She wanted to. She wanted to so badly. I can't begin to count the number of conversations we had about it, about the DEO's rules, about how close she was to breaking them. She trusts you."

"I just need her to be okay." Lena's voice crumbled into a whisper, throat constricting as tears blurred her vision again and the city lights winked into a yellow haze. "I just want to talk to her and see her eyes open and hear her voice and her laugh and I need her to be okay. I couldn't… I can't even begin to think what I would… what I would do without her."

She squeezed her eyes shut with so much force pain radiated in her skull.

"Lena?" Eliza's gentle voice permeated the young woman's ruminations. "Sweetie, can I hug you?"

Lena nodded forcefully, turning toward Eliza. Smelling faintly of alcohol and coffee and expensive perfume, Lena's arms wrapped around Eliza tightly, and the Danvers woman hugged her back with just as much force.

/

"Danvers?"

Alex glanced up to see Maggie looking over at her, noodles wrapped around chopsticks balanced above a takeout container.

"I, um…" She looked back down again. "I just wanted to say that when this is all over, I…" She coughed, and shook her head as blush colored her cheeks red. "Never mind. This isn't the right time, I'm sorry."

Alex murmured incoherently.

"What?"

The agent raised her head, eyes meeting Maggie's with piercing intensity as a small smile tugged at the edge of her lips. "I said screw the right time."

"Oh." A parallel smile crept across Maggie's face.

"And I—I don't know what we're doing, God, Mags I have no idea what to do, but I want you."

"Okay," Maggie said, tears rising. "I want you, too."

Alex held out her arm and Maggie tucked into her side, bodies overlapping the space where their chairs were pressed together. "Maggie?"

"Mhmm?"

"If you wanted, you could—I mean we could—go back to my place tonight. My mom's right, we should probably get some actual sleep and I know she's going to kick me out of here if I try to stay with Kara. The apartment's still the same just with less bonsai trees and healthy food…"

Maggie laughed softly, and Alex felt her ribs rattle wonderfully at her side.

"We don't have to, we shouldn't _do_ anything, like, you know… but we could just be together, be close again and it would be convenient, too, if we get news about Kara in the middle of the night we could just come over here together, if you still want to. I-"

"Alex."

"Hmm?"

"Yes. I still want to."

"Really?"

Maggie nodded. Alex's shoulder mussed her hair as the detective slide just a little bit closer. "Good, because I don't know if I can keep doing this whole 'life' thing without you. I—I'm not sure how yet, but we're going to figure this out, okay? For both of us."

Maggie relaxed into Alex's touch. "I believe you."

/

Maggie lifted her head off Alex, blinking sleepily as a knock resonated off the wall and the door was cracked slowly open.

"Look who Lena and I found on our way back in," Eliza said, unable to suppress a smile as she widened the door, revealing Dr. Hamilton.

"I come with good news," the doctor said, grinning too. "We've compared Supergirl's second round of testing to her first and she's already showing improvement. It's just a matter of when she'll wake up at this point. I'd still give her at least a day due to some of the meds we've got her on, but I'm optimistic that she'll recover reasonably quickly… Although, there is one catch. Due to the extent of her injuries, Supergirl will likely require a large amount of assistance, especially within the first few days of her waking."

"That won't be a problem," Alex said, beaming, and Maggie slid her hand into the agent's, fingers nestled in the soft space between her metacarpals.

"You'll have me," Maggie promised.

"I'll be there, too," Eliza added. She stroked Kara's hair and smiled at Maggie and Alex. "You girls aren't getting rid of me that easily."

Behind the group Lena coughed, cheeks tinted pink as she hung back. "Um, I could—I could help, too." She dipped her head for a moment, avoiding the gazes of all four women looking back at her. But their eyes were warm, lit by soft smiles. "I'd like to, if you want me there, of course, I wouldn't mean to intrude, I—"

It was Alex who shook her head first. "We'd love to have your help, Lena. It'd mean a lot to Kara, too."

Lena smiled back. Half an hour later, she slipped off only after insisting that someone send her updates as soon as news arose. Eliza hung back to spend some time with Kara, keep her company throughout the night.

"It'll be fine," Eliza promised when Alex hesitated. "Go home, get some sleep, and then you can come back in the morning. If anything with Kara changes, you'll be the first to know."

"Okay," Alex finally relented, kissing Kara's forehead and giving her mom a quick hug.

"Love you," Alex said before slipping out into the hallway where Maggie was waiting.

"You ready?" The detective asked and pushed off the wall where she'd been leaning, arms crossed.

Alex nodded. "Come on," she whispered and slipped her hand into Maggie's. "Let's go home."

Maggie squeezed Alex a little tighter, heart beating. She looked back through the window at Kara and Eliza, then down where her own fingers were entwined with Alex's. "I already am."


End file.
